Getting Help
Hi, I'm
Krista Knapp,
your friendly research/instructional librarian, and I'm here to help
you! Visit my website for more information about me.
When I'm not
teaching classes or rushing off to meetings, you can find me in my office in
Blackwell Library 128 or at the Research Services Desk.
You can also chat
with a research librarian when our desk is open.
Click here for more
information.
You can also get help
24 hours a day/7 days a week through the Maryland AskUsNow chat
reference service: http://askusnow.info/
Background Information
Reference
sources are a good place to start your research. What is a reference
source? A reference source is something you consult for a specific piece of
information, not something you read from cover to cover. Reference sources
include encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, thesauri, atlases, almanacs,
directories, etc. Blackwell Library's reference collection is located on
the main floor. Consult the
Library of Congress Classification outline to see the call number area for
your topic.
Why can't I just
use Wikipedia, you ask? Well, anybody and their brother can get on Wikipedia
and write whatever they want, for starters! Plus, there are tons of more
reliable, authoritative sources out there for you to use. And, I just can't
resist sharing my favorite Colbert Report clip about the downfalls of
Wikipedia. View it here (and please ignore the brief commercial at the
beginning!):
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/72347/july-31-2006/the-word---wikiality
Persuasive Narrative Speech - Advice!
1. Choose a quotation
Of course you can use google,
but we also have quotation sources in our reference collection.
-
Sports
quotations : maxims, quips, and
pronouncements for writers and fans
Reference | GV707 .M25 2000
- African American quotations
Reference | PN6081.3 .A36 1998
- Film quotations : 11,000 lines
spoken on screen, arranged by subject, and indexed
Reference | PN1994.9 .N69 1994
- Familiar quotations : a
collection of passages, phrases, and proverbs traced to their sources in
ancient and modern literature
Reference | PN6081 .B27 1992
- A Dictionary of environmental
quotations
Reference | PN6084.N2 D53 1992
2. Find other sources on the
Articles or Websites Tab
Persuasive Speech - Advice!
You're going to want a
variety of sources for your speech. Newspaper articles and journal
articles will probably be your best best. Remember that scholarly journal
artices are stronger, more valid sources than articles published in the popular
press. You also may want to locate statistics using the websites listed on
the Websites Tab.
Analogy Speech - Advice!
1. Choose your historic
event or person:
Year
by Year 1900-2010
Brainy History
Events
Wikipedia Events
by Year
2. Search for articles in one of these
databases:
(Note:
You will be asked to log in with your Gull Card barcode number if you are off
campus.)
-
Academic Search Complete
- a multidisciplinary
database containing both scholarly and popular sources, many of which have
full-text available. ASC is a good place to start your research. Use the
FindIt button to locate articles that are not available full-text.
-
Lexis Nexis Academic -
this database contains full-text world news, legal and business information.
-
National Newspapers
- a collection of full-text major newspapers including The New York Times
and Washington Post.
There is
more information about these databases and searching for articles under the
"Articles" tab above!
Informative Speeches - Advice!
1. Exposition on a Subculture
You should be able to find plenty of sources
about your subculture in the databases listed on the articles tab. I would start with
Academic Search Premier. You could also look for websites, just
remember to be evaluate the information very carefully. See the tab on website
evaluation for more information.
2. Demonstrative "How To"
Depending on what you're demonstrating, this
website, How Stuff Works may be
useful. As long as what you're demonstrating is not obscure, you should be able
to find websites and articles using the databases below. If you choose to use
websites, just remember to evaluate the information very carefully. See the
section below on website evaluation for more information.
3. My Chosen Career
The Bureau of Labor Statistics'
Occupational Outlook Handbook provides
great information about the type of education and experience you need to acquire
various jobs. It also talks about the job market and how much money you can
expect to make, etc. You can likely find articles about the profession using
the databases below as well.
4. Evidence in a Legal Case
I recommend searching LexisNexis to get the
full text of the case you are interested in. We also have many law reference
books that can help explain unfamiliar legal terms. Searching for newspaper
articles about the case might also be helpful.
5. News Event
What better way to talk about the news than
to *read* the news? The databases on the Articles Tab have newspaper articles in them,
but LexisNexis and National Newspapers have the full-text articles. Be sure to
narrow the date range to include the story you are talking about.
Finding Articles & the FindIt Button
These are a few
databases where you can find magazine and newspaper articles from the day or
year you were born. These links will work from off campus, but you will
need to log in with the 14 digit barcode on the back of your Gull Card.
Remember
that newspaper and magazine articles are "popular" sources. Don't confuse these
with "scholarly journal articles."
Click here for more information about the differences between popular
magazines and newspapers, and scholarly journals.
Databases for Newspaper and Magazine Articles
-
Academic Search Complete
- This database contains citations, abstracts,
and SOME full text for magazine, newspaper and journal articles. Use the
Find It button to access things that aren't full text.
-
Lexis Nexis Academic -
LexisNexis is a great source for full text newspapers from around the
world. It also has a lot of other cool stuff, but you will probably be most
interested in the news articles for this project!
-
National Newspapers
- This database has full text back to the
1980-1990's for 5 newspapers: Baltimore Sun, Christian Science
Monitor, New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall
Street Journal.
Databases for Scholarly Journal Articles
-
Academic Search Complete
- This database contains citations, abstracts,
and SOME full text for magazine, newspaper and journal articles. Use the
Find It button to access things that aren't full text. There are both
popular and scholarly articles in this database, so if you are looking for
only scholarly, check the box that limits to Scholarly (Peer Reviewed). *
-
Business Source Premier - company, industry, business
information with the familiar EBSCO interface. * If you are doing the
Company Public Relations speech, you can get lots of company information in
this database.
-
Communication & Mass Media Complete - a NEW, awesome database that is
all about Communication and Media studies. This database ROCKS and you will
want to use it.
A lot. *
-
ERIC - "Education Resources Information Center," a
database with full text education articles and ERIC documents as well as
Find It links to non-full text resources. *
-
JSTOR
- scholarly full-text
articles for almost every discipline; the newest documents are 3-5 years
old.
-
PsycINFO - the gold standard database for psychology
and related fields. *
-
Social Sciences Abstracts - articles and citations
for interdisciplinary fields such as addiction studies, anthropology,
corrections, economics, gender studies, gerontology, minority studies,
political sciences, psychology, sociology, and more *
*These EBSCO databases can be searched
simultaneously by checking them off in the "Choose Databases" box on the main
search screen in any EBSCO database. This is where
to click to get to the Choose Databases box.
WHAT DOES THAT CUTE LITTLE FIND IT BUTTON DO, ANYWAY?
It's a bit like magic, really. The Find It
button does three things:
-
Looks in all of our databases to see if
the document you want is available full-text in another of our databases.
If so, it links you to it!
-
Links you to the library catalog when we
have the item you want in print or microform.
-
Links you to ILLiad (interlibrary loan)
so you can borrow the item from another library if we don't have access
electronically or in print.
The Find It button is YOUR FRIEND!!!
Watch
this
tutorial to see the FindIt Button in action!
Evaluating websites
Always make sure that
internet resources are appropriate for your project. Look at the criteria
listed on this website:
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.html
If you have questions about the appropriateness of a website, please check with
your professor or a librarian.
Some sites you
might use to gather statistics:
Citing your work
Plagiarism is not cool.
This
guide helps students understand what plagiarism is and how to avoid it: To
avoid plagiarism, sources need to be properly cited.
APA citation will be used in this class.
Whenever you're in doubt about your citation, check with me or another reference
librarian!
Other sources of
citation help:
